FORA Capital LLC Takes Position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

FORA Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,200 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $364,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in Griffon by 98.7% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 777 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in Griffon in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $55,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new stake in Griffon in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $70,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Griffon by 56.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 411 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC increased its position in Griffon by 1,024.8% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 1,035 shares during the period. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Griffon Stock Performance

GFF opened at $84.29 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.03 billion, a PE ratio of 19.93 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74. Griffon Co. has a 1 year low of $45.70 and a 1 year high of $86.73. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.54.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $659.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $641.24 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 108.70% and a net margin of 8.00%. Griffon’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Griffon Co. will post 5.57 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. This is a boost from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is 17.02%.

Griffon declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, November 13th that allows the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the conglomerate to buy up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Stephens lifted their price target on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Griffon

In other Griffon news, SVP Seth L. Kaplan sold 4,844 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $339,080.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 198,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,899,970. The trade was a 2.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Brian G. Harris sold 13,314 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.10, for a total value of $880,055.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 199,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,203,342.80. This represents a 6.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 608,017 shares of company stock worth $43,198,576 over the last three months. Company insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

About Griffon

Griffon Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides consumer and professional, and home and building products in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, and internationally. The company operates through two segments: Home and Building Products, and Consumer and Professional Products. The Home and Building Products segment manufactures and markets residential and commercial sectional garage doors, rolling steel service doors, fire doors, shutters, steel security grilles, and room dividers for the use in commercial construction and repair, and home remodeling applications.